The Fundamentals Of Our Economy Are Strong ...

... indeed, as shown today in reaction to the U.S. bailout deal being defeated:

TSX down nearly 800 points amid bailout uncertainty

The Toronto stock market shed nearly 800 points Monday as the price of crude traded sharply lower and investors remained uncertain about a US$700-billion Wall Street bailout plan.

Toronto's S&P/TSX index was down 739.78 points to 11,386.22 in early afternoon trading Monday.

The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 80.2 points to 1,435.44 and the Canadian dollar was down 0.52 cent to 96.3 cents US.

Where is our Prime Douchebag on this?

Ah, yes:

Harper pledges tax credit for children's art activities

A re-elected Conservative government would create a tax credit for children's artistic activities, Stephen Harper pledged on Monday, saying the measure will "help families breathe a little."

Speaking in Ottawa, Harper said the Conservatives would extend the new credit worth an estimated $150 million a year to lower-income families, along with the existing children's fitness tax credit.

(...) During the funding announcement, Harper again stressed credits were part of the Conservatives' "clear, affordable, practical, and believable" proposals at a time of global economic uncertainty, while Stéphane Dion's Liberals are offering "untested, grandiose, theoretical" proposals.

And let's not forget about crime. We are too soft on crime while we are being overwhelmed by criminals and so we need to be tougher so that we may all feel safer, right?

Lucky for our Mini Leader that irony does not maim, eh?

Be that as it may - why has Harper so far remained (as of 2:30 PM Eastern time) silent on today's disastrous outcome in our trade markets? Isn't he supposed to be our "Strong Leader", showing "strong leadership" in addressing and tackling our worsening economy, making "strong leadership"-like decisions to correct this worsening crisis?

But I forgot - Harper emulates George W. Bush and, therefore, will let Rome burn while blaming the catastrophe on everyone else (especially the liberals) but him ... just like Bush has done.

Case in point: our Prime Douchebag of Canada was given fair warning (twice) that something like what happened today would happen - and nevertheless rejected said warnings just last week.

Our Strong Leader says: "At the moment there are problems in the Canadian economy, but we aren't in a recession."

Our Strong Leader says: "We don't have the same situation here with the mortgages as was the case in the U.S. with the subprime mortgages there. So, therefore, I think that our market is in a much stronger position."

One more time: "Don't worry, be happy".

Harper's minority government has been a near-failure in just a little over two years. I shudder to think of another four years of this, let alone of a majority Harper government ...


(Cross-posted at NetRoots)